big electric fences to serve as the last line of defense during flooding to keep asian carp from migrating into a canal that runs directly into lake michigan. tonight, with all of the flooding in and around chicago, the fear is that the river will soon crest above the height of those fences. rendering them useless and potentially sending asian carp right into a waterway in which there is no last line of defense. and then what happens to the great lakes. forecasters say all of the rain in the chicago area is ending tonight. but what that means for the threat of the dreaded asian carp invasion we have been fighting so long and we now have an asian carp for here in washington, on that we will have to keep you posted. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell again in boston tonight. have a great night. >> people are already calling the fbi tonight, hoping to help identify the two men suspected of planting bombs here in boston. bombs that killed three people,

including the 8-year-old boy who will never return to the third grade classroom that i visited today. >> at this time, these are the people of interest. somebody out there knows these individuals. >> authorities have the face. >> we consider them to be armed and extremely dangerous. >> it's not going to take long for somebody to recognize these people. >> no bit of information, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential is too small. that. >> investigation could be moving faster, were it not for the successful lobbying efforts of the national rifle association. >> the nra has acted shamefully. >> this bill only managed to win 54 votes. >> if the nra didn't score this, we would have had 15 more votes. >> is there any difference between sandy hook and boston other than the choice of weapon? >> the president and first lady are already on their way to attend an interfaith service. >> every one of us has been

touched by this attack on your beloved city. >> how can a good god allow bad things to happen? >> we are are shaken, we are are not foresaken. >> god's love will yet have the last word. >> we will have accountability without vengeance. vigilance without fear. >> they picked the wrong city to do it. not here in boston. tonight, the fbi has a new most wanted list. these guys. the fbi is asking for your help in finding two suspects described as armed and extremely dangerous. during a press conference earlier this evening, investigators put out this video of the two men, both wearing caps and dark jackets, walking through the marathon crowd on

monday. special agent in charge richard de sonia said the nation is counting on information provided to us. he said anyone with any information should call 1-800-call-fbi. we're going to be showing you this video over and over again tonight, in the hope that some of you might see something, anything helpful to the fbi. and although the nation is rightfully fixated on the details of this investigation, here in boston, many are only able to glance at the investigation headlines through their grief and mourning. for boston, the loss suffered on monday feels personal, even to people who don't personally know any of the victims. president obama came to the cathedral of the holy cross today, just a short walk from the finish line of the marathon to talk to boston and the nation

about that personal loss. >> our prayers are with the richard family of dorchester. to denise and the young daughter, jane. as they fight to recover. and our hearts are broken for 8-year-old martin with his big smile and bright eyes. his last hours were as perfect as an 8-year-old boy could hope for. with his family, eating ice cream at a sporting event. and we're left with two enduring images of this little boy. forever smiling for his beloved bruins. and forever expressing a wish he made on a blue poster board.

no more hurting people. peace. no more hurting people. peace. >> today i visited with the school where those words were written. no more hurting people. peace. the neighborhood house charter school is in the neighborhood where i grew up, dorchester. and it is the richard family school. i saw martin richard's desk in the third grade classroom that he'll never return to. i saw his little sister jane's desk in her first grade classroom that she will surely return to when she recovers from the loss of a leg. and i saw the school library that would have closed down, were it not for the personal efforts of martin and jane's mother, denise, who is the school librarian.

she is in a boston hospital tonight, recovering from serious head injuries. no family suffered more on monday than the richard family. and no boston institution has suffered more from the bombing than the neighborhood house charter school. i used to be a teacher in the boston public schools, and i've never seen a better elementary school here than the neighborhood house charter school, which was co founded by the headmaster, kevin andrews, 18 years ago. mr. andrews invited me into his house today. >> kevin, on monday, everyone in boston and everyone from boston spent some period of time, hours, for some of us, tracking down everyone we know, making sure they were safe. what was that afternoon like for you? >> frankly, it was -- prior to the bombing, was a great day in boston. my wife and our god child had gone to the marathon at

heartbreak hill. and we said, what a great day it is. and, you know, we went back home and, you know, had lunch. late lunch. and everything was great. and then on tv we hear about these bombings. and never could really -- explosions, they called them. so at first you kind of think, gas company. oh, here we go again. another mistake. but it wasn't the gas company. and then emotions kicked in pretty heavy. and i started praying right away. with my wife. and just said, you know, we hope everybody is wrong. but at that time we had heard that martin had lost his life. and that was hard. no sleep that night. and we heard about jane.

and, you know, we prayed some more. for them and then denise. you know, who is -- the library is going to be closed down at the end of last year. we ran out of kind of funds. and denise said she would even volunteer for a small salary, whatever it is. i would like to keep the library open. and for a small salary she kept the library open part time. she is a pretty remarkable woman. very wonderful with the kids. firm. she is a firm person. she is a real mother of three kids. you know. everybody is going to toe the line, do what you're told. don't ask more than once. kind of a model mother you want to have raising your children. every time i would come through the library to go to my office,

i would say, good morning, denise. good morning, mr. andrews. i remember one time i told her, you can call me kevin. and she said, i know, mr. andrews. >> so this library is really denise's monument. it literally wouldn't be here without her. >> yeah. i mean, we were going to close it down. i mean, there's no question. we weren't -- maybe the books would still be here. but there wasn't going to be a librarian. and i wasn't about to have kids check out the books and come back and everything -- the dewy decimal system is all kind of screwed up. and, you know, dr. seuss is over near the geography area, you know. so you've got to have someone here. and she stepped up. >> have you been able to speak to denise? >> no. the family really wants privacy. so i think it's just family that's involved.

maybe some close friends. and we really here in dorchester respect privacy. someone tells you they want the privacy in dorchester, you give them privacy. >> we know what they mean. >> we know what they mean. so we give it to them. >> so this is martin's classroom up here. >> yep. this is martin's classroom. third grade. his locker is here. that's his locker. and his time line, there is a picture of him on the beach. this is the classroom. and there's martin's -- here he is. math scores. up to his tens. i don't know if he'll catch jack. but he's pretty up there. martin is doing pretty well. >> yeah. >> pulling a strong second right now. there he is. great classroom. great teachers.

you know, good student. quiet kid. you know. quiet kid, strong boston accent. loves sports, loves the bruins. loves the celtics. loves the red sox. really loves dustin pedroia. that's his favorite athlete. >> what is your plan for monday? especially in this classroom? when everyone knows martin is not going to return? >> well, we're going to acknowledge, martin is missing. martin will no longer be with us. we'll have professionals here, along with the teachers, to work with the young people. monday is going to be hard. we'll do what we have to do to allow the children to express themselves, no matter what happens during the day, for the week, if it takes a month,

whatever it takes. we're going to bring back normalcy to the school. so our kids are ready. and they will be. we'll give them a hug. and we'll move on. and they're going to learn. we're going to tell them, you've got to still learn. you've still got to be smart. how can we be as smart as martin. how can we do our math facts as well as martin. >> now, the president is a great writer, and he's a great speech writer. he's got a lot of great speech writers working for him. but today the most poignant line in the cathedral was written by one of your third graders. it was written by martin. >> we're left with two enduring images of this little boy. forever smiling for his beloved bruins and forever expressing a wish he made on a blue posterboard. no more hurting people. peace.

no more hurting people. peace. >> what was it like for you as an educator, sitting in it that cathedral today to hear the president quoting the work done by one of your students in this room? >> he needs more consultants like martin. sometimes kids just get it right. you know, it was -- it's hard. you know? so it's hard hearing those words. it's hard hearing his name. it's easy for me to talk about it. but to listen is when the emotion comes in. and so i was, you know, taken away by that. you know. as that -- here's martin again. >> let's go take a look at the classroom that jane is going to be coming back to.

>> sure. they're honoring her. the kids made some cards and honor her. jane. we're very happy that they're doing this for them. so it's going to be hard. going to be hard. it's a good school. i guess i would say it 100 times. it's a good school, good staff. that's how come when jane comes back, kids come back, we're going to be able to really embrace this as something to learn from, to help us make our student body even stronger. and so we're not -- this makes us stronger. you know. we're -- there's a lot of heart in this school. a lot of family in this school. a lot of determination, resilience. but, you know, she still will be

jane, and i'll still joke with jane. and i'll -- you know, the joke i have with her, my own personal joke, my wife's name is jane. and so i always say to jane, "why do i love you, jane?" "because your wife's name is jane." and she smiles and will come over and give me a hug or show me something. she is probably going to be more resilient than most adults. and we'll take her home because we love her. >> well, i think jane is pretty lucky to be coming back to a school run by kevin andrews. that's what i think. >> jane is pretty lucky to have her teachers. jane is lucky. >> thanks. >> thanks.

>> i also learned today that for halloween jane dressed up as michelle obama. coming up next, the fbi tells nbc news they are already getting phone calls and information from people who think they know the bombing suspects. that's next. and the nra makes this country less safe in more ways than you realize. we will show you how the nra has weakened the investigative tools in bombing investigations. and later, we'll have more of what the president had to say in the cathedral in boston today. most people think that after an accident,

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with breaking news. in cambridge, massachusetts, just outside of boston, an m.i.t. campus police officer has been shot and killed after responding to a disturbance there. nbc's kerry sanders is in cambridge for us. kerry, what can you tell us? >> reporter: mara, there were

reports of a disturbance here on the m.i.t. campus, and an m.i.t. police officer responded. apparently, that police officer was shot multiple times. the security team here says that he was transported to a hospital where he was reported dead. the authorities then converged on the area as they swarmed the area, there were some explosions that were heard a short distance away. and many of the officers then traveled over towards watertown where there are many officers now converging to find out if that is related to what happened here. mara? >> kerry, thanks so much. "last word" is coming up. once again, these are the men the fbi is asking you to help find. the fbi says they are armed and dangerous, and says they are suspects in the boston bombing investigation. if you think you see anything here, any way that you can help, call the fbi tip line. 1-800-call-fbi.

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our fastest way to return your car. just note your mileage and zap ! you're outta there ! we'll e-mail your receipt in a flash, too. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. they appear to be associated. suspect one is wearing a dark hat. suspect two is wearing a white hat. suspect two set down a backpack at the site of the second explosion. as you can see from one of the images, suspects one and two appear to be walking together through the marathon crowd on boylston street in the direction of the finish line. somebody out there knows these individuals. >> that was the fbi agent in charge of the boston marathon bombing investigation. today the fbi released this surveillance footage, which shows the suspects on boylston street, near the site of the blasts. according to the time stamp, the

cameras captured the suspects approximately 12 minutes before the explosions. the official elaborated on the behavior of suspect two. >> the only one who was observed planting what we believe to be the device is suspect number two with a white cap shortly before the bomb blast went off. within minutes. suspect number two with the white cap on proceeded west on boylston street. >> a source close to the investigation tells abc news that authorities are confident these men committed the crime, due in part to a revealing reaction suspect two had to the first explosion, which was captured on a surveillance camera. the fbi has not released that portion of the video that shows that reaction. joining me now is msnbc analyst and former atf special agent james cavanaugh.

james, what are you studying in these advice released today? >> well, we looked at them carefully this afternoon, trying to see how these guys interacted with each other. the task force has done a great job. look at number two. i call him white hat. he's got that light-colored top on his backpack, and the parcel fits with video we have seen in the week, pete williams has reported on. and we looked at that carefully, and that's the scene of the blast of the second bomb. so this guy has planted the second bomb. we looked at the dark hat guy as they walk. it's just interesting that the dark hat guy looks a little older, walks in the front. and his bomb detonates first. they don't have a video of him planting the bomb. but the -- special agent in charge said they pieced it together. and what they pieced together was the backpack. i'm sure they pieced together

the backpack. it's possible he could have laid his hat on the backpack. so they could have found the hat and the backpack. but they were able from the video to say a backpack looking just like that was there. they probably have video of these guys communicating and talking. that's an interesting report about his reaction. these cowards are probably exhibiting some glee and joy at this, you know, vulgar thing they did. but that's going to be they're undoing as well. >> yeah -- >> they underestimated -- they underestimated law enforcement. and they underestimated the resilience of boston. and william pollard would describe it as the arrogance of ignorance. they're going to be caught soon. >> james, underestimating law enforcement and the resources they can bring to this, is the most useful mistake that criminals like this make in these situations, isn't it? >> well, it's true. they underestimate the capability.

look, you've got the a-team here. if you look at every great celtics team, red sox team, bruins team, rolled them together, all the players, that's the investigative team. they're going to win. they're going to -- they're going to solve the case. you can see it develop in 72 hours. that was a heartbreaking piece you just did at the elementary school. and i've seen all too many bombing victims over the years. and it's a vulgar crime. a mass murder by bombings and firearms are vulgar, vulgar crimes. >> james, before you go tonight, we're going to talk about this later in the show. but we discussed last night what the nra did, and its lobbying campaign years ago to make these investigations more difficult. and i'd like to you just describe that one more time. because i've got to tell you, people were absolutely shocked about what you had to say about this last night. >> well, lawrence, in the '70s, i was an agent, just left the police, came to work for atf, we were deep into bomb investigation. the 1968 gun control act came in as a result of the three assassinations.

john kennedy, robert kennedy and dr. king in '68. in '70, the explosive control act on the heels of the clan murdering, those four little girls in birmingham with bombs. anarchist bombs, weather under ground. a lot of bombings. congress passed the explosive control act. atf went to work trying to develop these indestructible ways we could track the bomb after it detonated and it was killed on the hill. i could never -- not tell you how we reacted in atf headquarters. special agents were like, really? the bombers have a lobby on the hill? we can't get this through? to catch bombers? really? i mean, we just couldn't believe it. and it was killed. it was also killed again later in the late '80s or early '90s. we tried to do it again. i'll tell you what, lawrence. i bet there is a congressman or senator that watches your show and they could go back to atf

and dust that plan off, it's on the shelf, and reintroduce a bill to tag commercial explosives so we can track them. consider tracking smokeless gun powders. and they won't solve every case but some cases and keep a city from this kind of carnage. >> it would be awful helpful to have that evidence tonight. james cavanaugh, thank you very much for joining me again tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, more with investigative reporter frank smyth on exactly how the nra has its hand in this investigation. and a very unhelpful way. tting . you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price.

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as reported last night on this program, the national rifle association has a hand in the bombing investigation in boston, and it is not a helping hand. the nra does not limit itself to making sure that the most lethal possible weapons and ammunition

remain available to america's mass murderers. the nra did have a big victory on that front yesterday. in the united states senate. here was former congresswoman gabby giffords' husband's reaction to that senate vote. >> if that vote had been a secret ballot, i bet you it would have passed with 80 votes. a lot of the senators that we met with over the past days and weeks, you know, we discussed this legislation with them. we talked to them about how it would work. what it would do. and most of them -- actually, almost all of them said they were in favor of the policy on the merits. they thought it was the right policy. but a lot of them, those folks that voted no yesterday, many of them were looking to get to a no. and it was out of one thing. it was out of fear. again, if yesterday's vote was a

secret vote, it would have passed, no doubt. >> as you just heard in the last segment from james cavanaugh, decades ago, the nra quietly and successfully lobbied to make bombing investigations much more difficult for the investigators. joining me now with that story is frank smyth, investigative journalist and contributor with msnbc.com. frank, it was your article that i read last night that broke this story. i had a vague memory as i was reading your piece that the nra had succeeded that way. but tell us what you found about their history with this -- breaking news out of massachusetts. there have been reports of explosions and ongoing violence in watertown, massachusetts. at this time, we're going to listen into the coverage of our

affiliate whdh in boston. >> one of the most vulnerable positions i've ever been in. >> absolutely, the cops flanked the left side of the street, i was running up the right side. i didn't have too much cover, i was ducking in between people's steps and stairs and trying to stay safe, but get the shot. >> and i was reporting on the phone when we got here i could smell something in the air. and to me, it smelled either like a gun powder substance or burning rubber or electrical. did you notice this? >> yeah, we went up one of the side streets here and there was some sort of haze in the air, some sort of smoke, and you can -- like you said, the rubber smell, but i don't know what it was. >> we don't know what it was either. we don't know if that was -- we don't believe because we got here just as police did that it was police firing, you know, sometimes they have these empty shells they fire or gas they put out. i think, i don't know something we'll work on confirming whether police discharged that or

whether it was somebody else. we certainly heard that. where is chris lambert? can you come in? chris, without telling everybody where you live, lives in the area, and what did you hear? you heard before the sirens. >> i was on the other side of the scene from where you were. and kind of had been following this whole thing watching you guys on the news and twitter and following the situation in cambridge. and there were reports on twitter everything was headed toward watertown. at that point, i turned the tv down to take a look outside. we are on a main road, i could hear gunfire, what i assume was gunfire off in the distance. didn't at first sound like it was in the same location. sounded like a different spot than where that whole scene unfolded. then it subsided, heard more shots and almost immediately you could see the cops following. >> hang on one second, chris. let's look at what's going on here. we have some movement with police and we have an ambulance pulling out.

this ambulance was a ways back. i'll try to get a look in as it passes by. you can see the police making way for this ambulance, which is stationary at the moment. the crime area still cordoned off. so it's not like they've finished or begun processing the scene here. here's this one balance. and i'll try to get a glimpse in. we've got a cambridge police car or an everett police car making way for the ambulance. trying to get a look at -- get a look inside. >> we just lost that shot. that is bad timing, unfortunately. we'll try to get that back up momentarily. when adam finds out for us, he'll let us know. >> we're watching coverage of nbc news boston, whdh on a developing news story out of that area.

there are reports of explosions and gunfire in watertown, massachusetts. this after earlier reports of violence in nearby cambridge, massachusetts, where an m.i.t. campus police officer was fatally shot this evening. nbc news' kerry sanders is live on the scene in watertown with the latest. what can you tell us about what's happening there tonight? >> reporter: well, things have certainly calmed down for a moment. the anxiety was quite high. the officers are still pushing people out of the way. the anxiety is relatively down. the officers chased over here, about 15 miles an hour if you were driving a normal speed to watertown. the witnesses here in watertown say they heard three distinctive booms. and when i asked them, did they sound like gun shots, they were very certain to say they did not sound like gun shots, but rather like booms. we've been trying to piece together some of this. we believe the officers may have taken one person into custody

and that they were pursuing another person when those booms took place. that other person may or may not be in custody. but i would suggest by what i'm viewing here right now that the other person is no longer in the area and likely in custody. simply because the officers have calmed the scene down. i have not seen this many police officers from this many different agencies in one location in a very long time in my career. you had an armored personnel carrier, s.w.a.t. team members her here, just about every police officer that could get in the area left that area. the m.i.t. area where the officer was shot and killed has just a small contingent of officers there. officers rushed over here, sirens blazing, there are lots of people on the streets here. lots of people who live in the area who came out, who heard what was going on. i see we can walk up to somebody who heard what was going on. were you here when this was

happening? well, give me a moment. >> well, kerry, if i can interrupt you with a quick question. you know, all eyes on the boston area this week, of course because of those tragic bombings at the marathon. is there any indication now, especially as police have identified a suspect that any of this violence is connected to the boston bombing case. >> reporter: you know, that is the number one question, and we don't have an answer. we don't have an official answer. and we don't want to speculate. i will say as a reporter who covers urban america, you don't hear about booms in our cities in america routinely. we had patriots day, we had the explosions that took out, well, 176 people were wounded and now we have this going on here. i know this young woman who is here. why don't you tell me what you heard as you were driving here? >> i heard two loud booms and then i -- on mt. auburn street. i headed to the boom and saw

cruisers. >> what did you do? you were in your car? >> yeah. >> and did those booms sound like based on where i am, it's about three blocks from where the police are set up. and you still heard? did you feel any sense of a concussion? >> no, i was inside a car. i didn't feel anything. but -- it was loud enough that i didn't think it was a gun shot. i thought it was an explosion. >> and you've heard gun shots before to know the difference? >> yes, i would know the difference. >> okay. thank you very much. she's safe and looks like everybody else in the area is safe. we did see and you saw we were watching whdh, the ambulances that came through here. i looked in the back of one of the ambulances and did not see anybody in the ambulance. those two ambulances did not race out of here. and if there was somebody in there, they definitely would have been racing out of here to go to an area hospital. from a chaotic scene to much

more calm scene now. the streets are closed, the officers have set up perimeter locations in at least three spots that i can see here. and if we were to be able to get further up the street, we might be able to get a better view of what took place up there. but obviously just as we saw in downtown boston after the bombing, that area will be closed off and it will be considered a crime scene and likely for some time, especially in the dark where it's a lot harder to find items that are there. >> and kerry, have you heard any reports of injuries or fatalities? >> the only fatality i can confirm is the one we've spoken about and that's the m.i.t. police officer who was shot multiple times and was reported dead when they rushed them to the hospital. >> and do we have any idea if there's any connection between the shooting at m.i.t. and the violence happening now? >> the contingent of officers who have been involved with dealing with what took place

after the marathon, at the marathon, and the officers who are here are all part of the various police departments and the fbi that have been participating in that investigation. and remember, the officers are pushing us back even further now. they released the photographs at a news conference today. and when they released those police photographs that were taken from security cameras, they urged the public to look at those pictures and to call the fbi and to provide whatever information. so, you know, this could be completely disconnected. but there seems to be a line that you might want to draw here to say that from the release of those pictures to the public viewing them to the number of calls that the fbi said they did indeed get and they got lots of calls that there may have been some sort of information that led them. why there was the initial

disturbance on the m.i.t. campus that the police officer responded to. we don't know. >> and, kerry, i want to keep you on the line one second if i may and bring our viewers up to speed. you are seeing and hearing two different things. we're hearing a live report from nbc's kerry sanders on the phone. we are watching live video coverage from nbc affiliate whdh in boston. the story as it's developing, explosions reported in the town of watertown, massachusetts. witnesses say they heard at least three booms this evening. there's speculation that at least one person may have been taken into custody. there's a massive police response there at this time. this follows earlier violence in cambridge, massachusetts, that's at about 4 1/2 miles away from watertown, roughly a 15-minute drive away. earlier then evening, an m.i.t. campus police officer was shot and killed and the suspect in that case is also still being pursued. kerry, i want to bring you in if i may. you mentioned that police were

pushing reporters and the public back. and we actually could see from whdh's feed them asking people to move back. are there any ind ications ther potentially could be more explosions or gun shots? >> reporter: i don't think so. not only the relaxed nature in which the officers are asking the public to move back and the contingent of media, but that the officers themselves do not have weapons drawn. they do not appear to be on alert. as if they're expecting it could be a threat to them or anyone else. i think the threat has now dissipated. the number of ufofficers here h diminished. now i'm beginning to see some unmarked cars arrive, which may indeed be some from the fbi coming in here.

they're a short distance away from here. >> and you were in cambridge covering the shooting at m.i.t., can you bring us to speed in that story? >> well, when i was over at cambridge, over at m.i.t., i was looking at 60 police officers who had set up a cordoned off of about 2 1/2 blocks. the officers are asking me to step back again here. excuse me. in that area as the officers were dealing with the scene at that location, it was not tense, which surprised me because we had an officer who had been shot multiple times and shortly thereafter had discovered that he had died. but the officers were not tense. and i began to sort of conclude that the threat that they had initially responded to they believed had already left.

and it was not much later after then that we saw the police cars one by one and three by three and seven by seven and before we knew it, 15 pulling out at once racing. and i mean racing down the street heading over this direction to watertown. >> and again to our viewers who are just joining us, we're hearing from kerry sanders live on the phone on continuing violence in massachusetts. we're going to now listen in to our boston affiliate whdh and their live coverage of this developing story. >> exactly, i think we're looking at live pictures. i have a monitor. no, that's back to us. we are getting live pictures from another cameras. i've lost my train of thought. let me tell you where we are right now. we are in our 7 news truck. we can see the scene on the other side of me. one police officer telling us as

long as we're close to the truck here, we could hang out and continue to broadcast to you. i can see a car that pulled up with two fbi agents inside. i'm not sure where they're going. and there's an fbi agent running toward where they set up the yellow tape running toward the end of the crime scene. we have seen in the last few minutes several of the police cars and that ambulance leaving the scene. that's not to say that they've cleared the scene by any means. in fact, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. we happen to be inside the scene right now technically. and the only reason because our truck is here and they told us as long as we stay close to our truck that we'll be all right. the video you're seeing now is some of the stuff we shot, i believe, when we first arrived. and just to take you back through that, i'm watching along with you. this is when we arrived and we found ourselves in the crime scene. police cars in front of us.

there are the officers with their guns drawn. this is when things started to get quite urgent when we arrived here. of course, there was a quick and steady police response, but it didn't start to get real wild until a minute or two after our arrival. and that is when we were hearing even more gun shots, additional to the ones that we heard when we got on to the scene. that's when police drew their firearms and for whatever reason pushed back and took their own cover. and when we did what we needed to do to keep ourselves safe. >> and, adam, again, we're looking at this exclusive video of someone on the ground with about 10 police officers, their guns drawn on this person. we don't know yet who this person is. and we don't know why police backed up, do we? >> we have no idea. and we also have no idea the booms that we've heard, whether those were flash grenades or

whether there was some sort of device that they've found suspicious. we don't know who deployed that. but, you see -- i'm watching the video for the first time now from the monitor in our 7 news truck, and i don't see anything on him. perhaps it was something he said. and i'm still not real sure, you guys, whether there could be another person. when we responded, if, indeed, this incident is related to the double armed robbery of the shell and the mobile gas stations on memorial drive, we were hearing suspects from police on the scene. again, this is just stuff we're hearing to try to make more sense in this story. not confirmed, just stuff we're hearing. >> we tried to take it sort of from the top of the events happening beginning with the m.i.t. officer, but we failed to mention the armed robberies that happened tonight, which is sort of a bizarre twist. we know we had somebody with a gun. can you walk us through them? where were you when you got the reports of the armed robbery?

and is that what brought you to watertown? >> yeah, we were over at m.i.t. -- >> all right. unfortunately, we just lost adam's audio. we will get that back as soon as we can. so just standby. but -- >> to our viewers just joining us, we are covering developing news out of massachusetts. two separate incidences of violence there this evening. first, pictures out of watertown now, this is not live, this is taped replay of activity taking place earlier this evening in watertown. witnesses reported several explosions, at least three explosions taking place this evening. there are also reports of gun shots and some residents being evacuated. as far as we know, no reports of injuries or fatalities in watertown in that situation that is currently developing right now. earlier this evening in

cambridge, massachusetts, an m.i.t. campus police officer was fatally shot. he was responding to reports of a shooting. reportedly responding to reports of a shooting, gun shots fired. authorities say he suffered multiple gun shot wounds and transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. at this time, that investigation is ongoing. officials saying no other victims in the m.i.t. shooting and no arrests have been made. so they are pursuing that suspect. the big question on everyone's mind is are these incidences related to one another? or the ongoing investigation in search for suspects in the boston marathon bombing. right now, i want to bring in kerry sanders who is live on the ground in watertown and earlier this evening was also in cambridge covering the m.i.t. shooting. kerry, if you can recap for our viewers joining us, are there any indications at this time any of this is related to the suspects in the marathon bombing case. >> the only indication would be

that many of the officers who have been dealing specifically with the shooting of the police officer are the same officers who have been dealing with the bombing at the marathon finish line. i think i can describe some of the scene here in a moment. >> do you want the tape? >> i'm on the air, sir. hang on one second. okay. so -- sorry about that, i've got six people talking. >> feel free to take a minute to get yourself situated and i'll describe what we're seeing. we're taking a look at whdh's taped replay of activity earlier this evening. the nbc news affiliate in boston, massachusetts. and this video you're seeing is of law enforcement response to reports of explosions in watertown, massachusetts. of course, there was a heavy police response to these reports. witnesses say they heard at least three explosions and

several gun shots. we have kerry sanders who is on the ground there, trying to get himself situated to provide us with the best perspective on this developing story. are you with us now? >> reporter: i am, indeed. and i think you can probably see, as well, some of what's going on. not sure. >> we can't see you. we're looking at taped replay. >> while we're working on that, let me talk to michael mcgee. he's a resident in the area. heard some of the activity, curious, came out. what did you see? what did you hear? >> i heard a lot of gun shots. >> gun shots. >> a lot of them. >> it was like you couldn't keep count. >> they were kind of in rapid fire. it sounded like a shootout, like they were moving. >> okay. >> then i definitely heard an explosion. and then another explosion and a louder explosion. in between the gun shots, there's a lot of crazy driving around. >> and this is -- are you hearing police?

sirens as this is all going on? >> oh, absolutely. it was very loud, very chaotic. they were heading in both directions. sounded like they were actually chasing a suspect or somebody. i don't know what it was. it was definitely a shootout. >> what did you do yourself? did you just stand in awe? what did you do? >> stupidly, i drove my bike towards it. >> the curiosity gets you sometimes. well, thank you very much for that. so you heard what michael had to say. there are many others who are repeating the same story of what they heard and what they saw. you know, we did the drive, of course, if you were just driving normally, driving the speed, coming through the traffic lights, be about a 15-minute drive from m.i.t. over here. of course, the police officers arrived here much faster. another reporter who was here. he's with the nbc station in connecticut and he joins me now. george, tell me what you saw and really what you heard.

i had my ear pieces in doing a live report so i didn't hear what you heard standing at the same location. >> we were there for the officer being shot at m.i.t., and it was my photographer who said, did you hear that? at the same time, some of the other reporters said, three booms, three booms. so at that point, there was somebody, another reporter listening to scanners and gave us an address, memorial drive in cambridge where they heard that -- said head that way. we started to see police cars. and you saw the police cars. >> yeah. >> and they were screaming. >> when i say they were driving fast, they were screaming. >> and maybe half dozen going as fast as they can the other way. we ended up basically just chasing them. and we chased them through cambridge here into watertown. as we got about five minutes away from m.i.t., there were probably at one point 60 cars in a row using up every lane flying. we stopped and pulled over to the sidewalk to let them by and started to shoot video.

at that point, we heard a couple of pops, in the distance, three or four witnesses around us. at that point, we said those are gun shots, let's go. once the police and unmarked vehicles went by, we follow them here to mt. auburn, i think we were the second crew on the scene. it was still very hectic. police cars still showing up, they were turning around and so they would drive down the road and u-turn and come down another road. they were trying to circle this area. and that was really what we saw here. and within about 15, 20 minutes, witnesses starting to tell us stories as they were getting evacuated from the streets. >> what i think coming in here, may be a crime scene vehicle which, again, would be another sign of bringing in forensic experts. boston police special operations coming in. when he talks about the officers that were here, most of them had on bulletproof vests, some of them in camouflage, almost looking like members of the military. those are the s.w.a.t. team.

the state s.w.a.t. teams deployed in this area. well, most of them now have taken their weapons and taken them down and are now dealing with just sort of a little bit of crowd control where we are. a little bit further up the street, if that is a crime scene, it's going to be closed for some time. they have to bring in quite a number of people. i'm curious, george, when you were standing here in those early moments -- by the way, it's about a four-mile distance. here we go. another car coming in. there comes another -- there comes in another team of s.w.a.t. in an unmarked panel van making their way in. the fact that those boom, boom, boom that michael over here told me he heard. your photographer heard. that was four miles away. consider the distance that the sound traveled from the explosions. >> the witnesses we spoke with said they heard at least one or two booms here on the scene in watertown.

one witness heard between 20 and 50 shots. i spoke to a guy here who said he couldn't keep track it was in rapid succession. so i think we may have a live picture up right now. are we looking at a live picture from this location? >> still looking at video from whdh from the police response earlier this evening. if i can ask you to set the scene for what things look like right now. you did say that things had calmed down, appeared to have calmed down a little bit that police were no longer holding their weapons out visibly. have things settled down a little bit? >> reporter: absolutely. things have completely settled down. this is absolutely the aftermath of a situation. officers still walking with purpose from point to point, other officers dealing with crowd control. they put up yellow caution tape over most of the main drag here. keeping people back about -- i don't know, it's hard for me to say where the actual spot is where this happened. but they moved us back three

city blocks from where it appears the main action took place earlier tonight. >> kerry, can you tell me what kind of area is this? is this a residential area, a business district? where is this taking place? >> reporter: this is in watertown, it's a commercial district, a main drag heading up the street here. you've got your dunkin donuts citizens bank, town diner, a hardware store. where the 7-eleven is, people come up and down the main drag. it's a very wide, two lanes on one side, two lanes on the other. main drag through town here. so you have normally on a given day traffic coming back and forth. there's traffic lights. >> have officials identified where they think these explosions came from? are we still trying to piece all that together? >> yeah, no, that's still coming together. it would appear that if they were chasing two suspects, which

is what we believe they were doing. may have been taken into custody and maybe the second, as well because of what we're seeing here. that those explosions may have emanated from the two suspects, they may have been throwing something out the window. and i hesitate to suggest what they were throwing out because we don't have the details yet. and unfortunately, we don't have an authority here to provide the specific information on even the early preliminary analysis of what took place here. >> of course. >> there are so many different police agencies here to get to one single agency who is going to release the information much like we heard earlier today when the fbi was talking about the release in information that they wanted to come from one person and come out in sort of a linear direct fashion without little pieces of, you know, hearsay or speculation. that's the one thing -- and, again, i can't say this is connected, but certainly many of the police officers dealing with the bombing of the boston marathon are the same officer